Shooting from the Hip: Proposed Minimum Rights in Criminal Proceedings throughout the EU

Abstract:  EU action in the field of procedural rights in criminal proceedings was expected. The effects on procedural rights of the EU-propelled increase of repressive, cross-border efficiency with the application of the principle of mutual recognition could not fail to be noticed, and doctrinal opinion has been outspokenly critical of the current predominance of the 'security'-element over the other two in the 'area of freedom, security and justice'. Unfortunately, the proposed Framework Decision on certain procedural rights in criminal proceedings throughout the EU is a double failure: first, the Commission's methodological choices betray a cavalier attitude to the limits of EU competence in this area. Second, it is also a substantive failure in that the rights selected as being 'so fundamental that they should be given priority at this stage' do little to solve the problems actually besetting the application of the principle of mutual recognition in criminal matters.     

Control,consent and political legitimacy

In this essay, I evaluate Philip Pettit’s theory of republican political legitimacy and maintain that it fails to provide a more satisfactory account of legitimacy than consent-based theories. I advance two interrelated theses. First, I argue that in so far as Pettit successfully narrows the scope that his theory of political legitimacy has to address, his arguments could be adapted to support consent-based theories. Second, I argue that Pettit’s theory fails to satisfy the high standards it sets for itself and is thus unsuccessful. My critique focuses on Pettit’s notions of historical, political and normative necessity, before evaluating whether his requirement of equally individualised popular control of government should be endorsed.     

Context Effects in Forensic Entomology and Use of Sequential Unmasking in Casework

Context effects are pervasive in forensic science, and are being recognized by a growing number of disciplines as a threat to objectivity. Cognitive processes can be affected by extraneous context information, and many proactive scientists are therefore introducing context‐minimizing systems into their laboratories. Forensic entomologists are also subject to context effects, both in the processes they undertake (e.g., evidence collection) and decisions they make (e.g., whether an invertebrate taxon is found in a certain geographic area). We stratify the risk of bias into low, medium, and high for the decisions and processes undertaken by forensic entomologists, and propose that knowledge of the time the deceased was last seen alive is the most potentially biasing piece of information for forensic entomologists. Sequential unmasking is identified as the best system for minimizing context information, illustrated with the results of a casework trial (n = 19) using this approach in Victoria, Australia.     

Evaluating the Cultural Fit of an Approach for Practice Model Development for Tribal Child Welfare

Three American Indian tribes utilized Business Process Mapping (BPM) as a tool to develop culturally-based tribal child welfare practice models. This study employed a multi-methods design to evaluate the cultural fit of BPM when used in tribal settings. Findings indicated that although programs considered BPM a “mainstream” intervention, each still found the process to be an effective means of creating models reflecting child welfare practice within tribal cultural contexts. Findings further suggested that BPM can, however, benefit from examination of how it might better articulate cultural values and norms, as well as differences between tribal and mainstream child welfare approaches.     

Comparative Analysis of Insect Succession Data from Victoria (Australia) Using Summary Statistics versus Preceding Mean Ambient Temperature Models

Minimum postmortem interval (mPMI) can be estimated with preceding mean ambient temperature models that predict carrion taxon pre‐appearance interval. But accuracy has not been compared with using summary statistics (mean ± SD of taxon arrival/departure day, range, 95% CI). This study collected succession data from ten experimental and five control (infrequently sampled) pig carcasses over two summers (n = 2 experimental, n = 1 control per placement date). Linear and exponential preceding mean ambient temperature models for appearance and departure times were constructed for 17 taxa/developmental stages. There was minimal difference in linear or exponential model success, although arrival models were more often significant: 65% of linear arrival (r² = 0.09–0.79) and exponential arrival models (r² = 0.05–81.0) were significant, and 35% of linear departure (r² = 0.0–0.71) and exponential departure models (r² = 0.0–0.72) were significant. Performance of models and summary statistics for estimating mPMI was compared in two forensic cases. Only summary statistics produced accurate mPMI estimates.     

Lessons from urban risk assessments in Latin American and Caribbean cities

This paper draws on the results from a recent World Bank-funded project designed to inform policy-making and climate change adaptation planning in small and medium-sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The focus was on floods and landslides, which are the two most common climate-related risks in cities across the region. The project allowed the application of the Urban Risk Assessment (URA) tool developed by the World Bank and the drawing of valuable lessons which may also be applicable to the many methods and tools available for climate change adaptation planning in the rapidly urbanising cities of developing countries.     

Review and commentary

“A” in politics, “C” in science

Michael R. Beschloss: Mayday: Eisenhower, Khruschev and the U‐2 Affair Harper & Row, New York, 1986, 494 p., $19.95.

Plausible deniability and waging war

Prados, John: A Review of Presidents’ Secret Wars. William Morrow and Co., New York, 1987 436 p., $19,95.

Mission impossible?

Nicholas Bethell: Betrayed. Times Books, New York, 1985, 206 p., $15.95

Spies, Deja Vu

Thierry Welton: Le KGB en France Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1986,340 p., 480 Fr.

She had no future, but oh what a past!

Russell Warren Howe: Mata Hari: The True Story Dodd & Mead, New York, 1986,292 p., $17.95.

Away but not forgotten

Vladislav Krasnov: Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., 1986, 264 p., $16.95.

Cryptanalysis reexplored

Thomas Parrish: The Ultra Americans: The U.S. Role in Breaking the Nazi Codes Stein and Day, New York, 1986, p. 338, $19.95.

Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman: The FBI‐KGB War: A Special Agent's Story Random House, New York, 1986, p. 320, $18.95

Cipher A. Deavours and Louis Kruh: Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis Artech House, Dedham, Md., 1985, 259 pp.